Process for evaporating water from stillage

ABSTRACT

This disclosure describes energy efficient process to distill a process stream in a production facility. A process uses multiple effect evaporators, ranging from one evaporator to eight evaporators in each effect. The process arrangement shows an example of four effect evaporators, with a zero-effect evaporator having a single evaporator, a first-effect evaporator having a set of three evaporators, a second-effect evaporator having a set of three evaporators, and a third-effect evaporator having a set of evaporators to create condensed distillers solubles.

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of and claims the benefit of priorityunder 35 U.S.C. § 120 to U.S. Pat. Application Serial No. 16/872,368,filed on May 12, 2020, the contents of which are hereby incorporated byreference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The subject matter of this disclosure relates to methods for distillingalcohol (e.g., ethanol) in a production facility. In particular, thesubject matter is directed to improving the distillation process, toeliminate shutdown time, to reduce amount of energy needed fordownstream processing, to reduce greenhouse gas and/or carbon emissions,to improve carbon intensity scores, and to increase overall efficiencyof a process.

BACKGROUND

The United States relies on imported petroleum to meet the needs oftransportation fuel. To reduce dependence on the imported petroleum, theEnvironmental Protection Agency (EPA) set standards for a Renewable FuelStandard (RFS2) program each year. The RFS2 includes a mandate to blendrenewable fuels into transportation fuel, which ensures the continuedgrowth of renewable fuels. The RFS2 proposes annual standards forcellulosic biofuel, biomass-based diesel, advanced biofuel, and totalrenewable fuel that apply to gasoline and diesel. The proposal is 17million gallons of cellulosic biofuels, 1.28 billion gallons ofbiomass-based diesel, 2.0-2.5 billion gallons of advanced biofuel, and15-15.5 billion gallons of renewable fuel to be produced and forconsumption in 2014.

(http://www.epa.gov/otaq/fuels/renewablefuels/documents/420fl3048.pdf).

Meanwhile, efforts have been undergoing to reduce travel demand, toimprove vehicle efficiency, and to switch to cleaner, lower-carbonfuels. These efforts have focused on establishing a national low carbonfuel standard (LCFS) together, or in place of the RFS2. The LCFSincludes all types of transportation fuels (i.e., electricity, naturalgas, hydrogen, and biofuels), requires reducing a fuel’s averagelife-cycle gas house gas (GHG) emissions or carbon-intensity (CI) over acertain period of time, and stimulates innovation by rewardingproduction facilities that reduce GHG or carbon emissions at every step.Production facilities can reduce CI of fuels by selling more low-carbonfuels, reducing the CI of fossil fuels, improving efficiencies, reducingcarbon footprints, capturing and sequestering carbon, and/or purchasingcredits from other producers who are able to supply low-carbon fuels atlower prices. California and some countries have adopted the LCFSpolicy. Other states and regions in the U.S. are considering adopting aLCFS policy similar to California’s model.

A national LCFS would affect the economy and environment. These effectsmay be based on cost and availability of low-carbon fuels, GHG timelinereduction, and creation of a credit system. Advantages of incorporatingLCFS to RFS2 are to reduce transportation fuel consumption and lowerfuel prices, lower crop prices by shifting toward cellulosic feedstocks,and reduce GHG or carbon emissions significantly domestically andglobally. Thus, production facilities are seeking ways to implement LCFSon their own. Since production facilities produce emissions, methods toimplement LCFS include finding more efficient technologies.

Fuel grade ethanol distilled from grain has become increasingly popularas an alternate fuel for motor vehicles. Ethanol has also increased inpopularity as a gasoline additive for formulating clean burning gradesof gasoline for motor vehicles.

A fuel grade ethanol production process typically includes the steps ofgrain handling and milling, liquefaction and saccharification,fermentation, distillation and evaporation, and co-product recovery. Inthe grain handling, corn is brought into the plant to be ground forbetter starch conversion. In liquefaction and saccharification, thestarches are milled and converted to sugars. In the fermentationportion, a slurry of milled corn is fermented to produce a beer having aconcentration of ethanol that is usually no more than approximately 15%by volume. In the distillation portion of a typical process, the ethanolin the beer is extracted in distillation columns. Distillation columnshave a multitude of horizontal trays for bringing rising ethanol vaporand descending liquid into contact. In a distillation column, lowpressure steam percolates up through the beer as the beer cascades fromhigher trays to lower trays. As the rising steam heats the beer, theethanol in the beer evaporates and rises to the top of the column whereit exits as a vapor. The remaining water and other grain material in thebeer descends to the bottom of the column to exit as “beer bottoms”.After solids have been removed from the beer bottoms, the remainingliquid known as thin stillage is reduced in the evaporation portion ofthe process where liquid is boiled away from the thin stillage toproduce a syrup.

To produce fuel grade ethanol, more than one interconnected distillationcolumn is typically used to progressively purify the ethanol product. Ina typical ethanol distillation process, a beer column receives beer andproduces an intermediate ethanol vapor. A rectifier column receives theintermediate ethanol vapor from the beer column and produces 190 proofor 95% pure ethanol vapor. A third, side stripper column receivesbottoms from the rectifier column and then produces an intermediateethanol overhead vapor that is further purified by the rectifier column.The ethanol free bottoms from the side stripper column can be used toformulate cook water for the fermentation portion of the process.Because of the physical properties of an ethanol water solution, adistillation process can only practically produce an ethanol watersolution that is approximately 95% ethanol and 5% water. A dehydrator isused to remove most of the remaining water to produce higher purityproduct. The dehydrator receives the 95% ethanol vapor and removesnearly all of the remaining water to produce ethanol having a watercontent of less than 0.25%. A dehydrator may contain beads of materialwhich attract water to a greater degree than ethanol.

The fermentation portion of the process converts glucose into ethanoland also generates carbon dioxide gas, which is often recovered forvarious industrial uses. The distillation portion of the processgenerates the above mentioned beer (i.e., spent fermentation broth)bottom byproduct that is free of ethanol and which contains unfermentedsolid remnants of the milled grain that was fermented to produceethanol. This beer bottom byproduct can be mechanically separated into amostly liquid component known as thin stillage and a mostly solidcomponent know as distillers grains. A dryer can be employed to dry thedistillers grains to produce dry co-products. The distillers grains arehigh in protein and therefore make an excellent feed for farm livestock.Because releasing the thin stillage would amount to a release of wastewater, the thin stillage is usually evaporated in evaporators to producea syrup, which can also be dried in the distillers grain dryer tofurther increase the output of the animal feed co-product.

The economic constraints confronting a fuel grade ethanol producer aremore challenging than those faced by a distiller of spirits for humanconsumption. This is because fuel grade ethanol must have virtually nowater content and it must be produced at low cost. Accordingly, it is anobject of this subject matter to provide a process arrangement fordistilling ethanol that conserves energy and water, to provide a processarrangement for distilling ethanol that uses sets of evaporators andadjoining equipment that do not have to be taken off-line formaintenance while the evaporation portion of the process continues tooperate at full capacity. There is a need for improved methods fordistilling alcohol in a more efficient manner by reducing GHG or carbonemissions, decreasing the amount of energy used for downstreamprocessing, and reducing operating costs.

SUMMARY

This disclosure describes improving distillation of alcohol in aproduction facility. This disclosure helps to distill alcohol byreducing an amount of energy used for further downstream processing,which in turn reduces GHG or carbon emissions, and reduce operatingcosts, which in turn may lower biofuel costs.

In an embodiment, a process to separate ethanol from ethanol-laden beercomprising sending a first steam condensate from a sieve vaporizer and asecond steam condensate from a first effect evaporator to create steamin a zero number evaporator, to produce a first-effect steam to afirst-effect evaporator, producing a first-concentrated stillage fromevaporation, a first-evaporate vapor and a first-steam condensate;sending the first-concentrated stillage and first-evaporate vapor to asecond-effect evaporator to produce a second-concentrated thin stillage,a second-evaporate vapor, and second evaporate condensate; sending thesecond-concentrated thin stillage and the second-evaporate vapor to athird-effect evaporator to produce a third-evaporator vapor, condenseddistillers solubles, and third-evaporate condensate.

In another embodiment, a process to separate ethanol from ethanol-ladenbeer comprising distilling the ethanol-laden beer in a beer columnmaintained at a pressure below atmospheric pressure by a condenser toproduce: (i) a vapor primarily including ethanol which is condensed bythe condenser into a liquid primarily including ethanol, and, (ii)byproducts including thin stillage, the thin stillage includingprimarily water; evaporating water from the thin stillage to produce midstillage and first effect steam; evaporating water from the mid stillageproduced with heat from the first effect steam to produce a secondeffect steam and byproducts including a syrup.

In another embodiment, a process comprising sending a boiler steam to asieve vaporizer; creating a steam condensate to zero number evaporatorby the sieve vaporizer; sending a first steam condensate from afirst-effect evaporator to the zero number evaporator; and sendinganother steam condensate from the zero number evaporator to a deaerator.

In an embodiment, a process comprises distills alcohol in a productionfacility by evaporating ethanol-laden beer in a beer column maintainedat below atmospheric pressure to produce a vapor with ethanol to becondensed into a liquid and thin stillage.

In another embodiment, a process for reducing an amount of energy neededfor distilling alcohol, the process comprising the process distills thebeer in a series of evaporators, from zero number evaporator to afirst-effect evaporator to a second-evaporator to a third-effectevaporator. The process creates condensed distillers solubles anddistills the ethanol-laden beer to produce ethanol.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used to limit the scope of the claimed subject matter. Other aspectsand advantages of the claimed subject matter will be apparent from thefollowing Detailed Description of the embodiments and the accompanyingfigures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The Detailed Description is set forth with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Theuse of the same reference numbers in different figures indicates similaror identical items. The features illustrated in the figures are notnecessarily drawn to scale, and features of one embodiment may beemployed with other embodiments as the skilled artisan would recognize,even if not explicitly stated herein.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment for the distillation vacuumtechnology used to produce ethanol in a production facility.

FIG. 2 illustrates distillation for the distillation vacuum technology.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example of the distillation vacuum technology.

FIG. 4 illustrates another example of the distillation vacuumtechnology.

FIG. 5 illustrates yet another example of the distillation vacuumtechnology.

FIG. 6 illustrates the regen tank part of the distillation vacuumtechnology.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the Fractionated Stillage that is usedwith distillation vacuum technology.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION Overview

The Detailed Description explains embodiments of the subject matter andthe various features and advantageous details more fully with referenceto non-limiting embodiments and examples that are described and/orillustrated in the accompanying figures and detailed in the followingattached description. Descriptions of well-known components andprocessing techniques may be omitted so as to not unnecessarily obscurethe embodiments of the subject matter. The examples used herein areintended merely to facilitate an understanding of ways in which thesubject matter may be practiced and to further enable those of skill inthe art to practice the embodiments of the subject matter. Accordingly,the examples, the embodiments, and the figures herein should not beconstrued as limiting the scope of the subject matter.

This disclosure describes environments and techniques for improvedmethods in distilling alcohol in a production facility. For instance,the production facility may include, but is not limited to, biofuels,alcohol, animal feed, oil, biodiesel, pulp and paper, chemical industry,and other fields.

The distillation vacuum technology presents opportunities to reduce GHGor carbon emissions by providing methods xx than conventional methods.With the insoluble solids having less moisture or higher solids content,the process may reduce energy usage downstream for drying and/orevaporating and reduce operating costs while improving efficiency in theproduction facility. For instance, the downstream processing useselectricity and natural gas to operate the evaporators and dryers, whichgenerate emissions into the atmosphere. With the distillation vacuumtechnology, the amount of electricity and natural gas to operate theevaporators and dryers will be reduced and so will the amount ofemissions.

Furthermore, the distillation vacuum technology provides biofuels thathave a lower carbon intensity than conventional biofuels or hydrocarbonfuels. For instance, the LCFS establishes carbon intensity standardmeasured in grams CO₂ equivalent per mega-joule of fuel energy(gCO₂e/MJ) over a certain period of time. The production facilitiessupply an accounting of net fuel emissions per unit of fuel energy. Itappears that the distillation vacuum technology operates withinregulatory agencies that can quantify environmental benefits orassociate a biofuel or a tradeable credit. Thus, there are economicincentives, environmental benefits, other advantages, and benefits tousing the distillation vacuum technology that provide a moredistillation vacuum technology industrial process.

The goals of the subject matter are attained in this distillation vacuumtechnology arrangement that uses a minimum of energy and operates with aminimum of down time. An embodiment of the distillation vacuumtechnology of the present subject matter may include a distillationportion, an ethanol dehydration portion, a distillers grain separationand drying portion and a thin stillage evaporation portion.

In the fermentation portion of the process, a milled corn slurry isfermented to produce an ethanol-laden beer. In the distillation portionof the process, ethanol is evaporated from the ethanol-laden beer andcaptured for further purification in the dehydration process. Thedistillation portion of the process preferably includes a beer column, arectifier column, and a side stripper column. The beer column receivesbeer and produces an intermediate ethanol vapor which the rectifiercolumn receives and further distills into a 190 proof or 95% pureethanol vapor. The side stripper column receives bottoms from therectifier column and returns intermediate ethanol vapor to the rectifiercolumn for further purification. As noted above, the beer column alsoproduces beer bottoms which include unfermented grain solids and thinstillage comprised mostly of liquid water.

The dehydration portion of the distillation vacuum technology mayinclude a steam heated molecular sieve dehydrator which receivescondensed ethanol liquid that is approximately 190 proof or 95% purefrom the distillation portion of the process. The steam heated molecularsieve dehydrator produces hot, ethanol vapor having a purity above 199.5proof or 99.75%.

The beer bottoms from the beer column contains unfermented distillersgrains are conveyed to the distillers grain separation and dryingportion of the process. In the distillers grain separation and dryingportion of the process, the beer bottoms are mechanically separated intomostly solid distillers grains and mostly liquid thin stillage. Thedistillers grains can then be dried in a dryer. The thin stillage isconveyed to the evaporation portion of the process where it is reducedin a series of evaporators to a syrup that can also be dried along withthe distillers grains.

The distillation vacuum technology of the present subject matter uses anarrangement of four effects of evaporators in the evaporation portion ofthe process, namely: a single zero number evaporator, a set of firsteffect evaporators; a set of second effect evaporators and a set ofthird-effect evaporators. The evaporators may range from one to eightevaporators for each stage of effects of evaporation. The evaporators ofthese four effects, receive stillage and progressively concentrate ininto a syrup. The syrup is classified under AAFCO 27.7 CondensedDistillers Solubles (CDS), which is defined as obtained after theremoval of ethyl alcohol by distillation from the yeast fermentation ofa grain or a grain mixture by condensing the thin stillage fraction to asemi-solid.

Each of the evaporators has an upper shell and tube heat exchangerportion and a lower pot portion for collecting concentrated stillage.The heat exchanger portions are heated on their shell sides and boilstillage on their tube sides. In this arrangement, the evaporators ofeach effect are interconnected so that one of the evaporators of eacheffect can be bypassed and taken off-line for cleaning and maintenanceif needed, while the other evaporators of the other effects continue tooperate. Preferably, the evaporators of each effects are sized so thatthe effects can continue to operate at full capacity even if one of theevaporators in the effect is bypassed and taken off-line.

In an embodiment for this evaporator arrangement, the initial numberedas “zero evap” receives heated steam condensate from a sieve vaporizerand hot, ethanol vapor (e.g., 200 proof) produced by the molecular sievedehydrator. When the hot ethanol vapor product is used to provide heatin one or two of the first effect evaporators, the ethanol vapor is notmixed with the steam. The first-effect evaporators (1^(st)) are heatedby first effect steam produced from the zero evap, which causes theboiling of water from the thin stillage in the first-effect evaporators.The first-effect evaporators produce steam condensate to the zero evap,and produce first evaporate vapor and first-concentrated stillage to thesecond-effect evaporators (2^(nd)).

The second-effect evaporators process stillage that is more concentratedthan the stillage processed by the first-effect evaporators andtherefore should operate at a lower temperature than the first-effectevaporators. The second-effect evaporators produce evaporate condensateto a evaporate condensate tank and produce second evaporate vapor andsecond-concentrated stillage to the third-effect evaporators (3^(rd)).

Evaporate vapor produced by the third-effect evaporators may occur bythe boiling of water from mid stillage, known as third-effect vapor isnot vented as waste heat but is piped to the beer distillation column toprovide sufficient heat for the beer distillation column. Thisarrangement allows steam to be used as heat transfer fluid in theevaporators, 200-proof is directed to the zero evaporator.

The advantages of this arrangement are substantial. First, what would bewaste heat from the evaporation process is used to provide the heat forthe evaporation of ethanol in the distillation process. This energy flowin this arrangement is generally inverted from one wherein the wasteheat from the distillation process is used to heat the evaporationprocess. Steam which heats a distillation process is directly mixed withthe beer as ethanol is evaporated. Clean, plant steam, when used in adistillation process, is contaminated and must be replaced with cleanwater. Accordingly, water and clean plant steam are conserved if steamfrom the boiler, sieve vaporizer, or any effect evaporators is used toheat the distillation process instead of clean, plant steam.

The distillation vacuum technology permits the molecular sieve indehydration to be independent of the evaporators, which eliminates theneed to shut down the molecular sieve system during normal operations.

In the present subject matter process, steam is used primarily on theshell side of the heat exchanger portions of the evaporators so thatwhen the steam is condensed it can be returned to a boiler or anotherevaporator, without cleaning or processing. Moreover, the low pressure,low temperature third-effect steam produced by the third-effectevaporators is more appropriate for use in a beer column where ethanolis being evaporated at a relatively low temperature. Distillationcolumns accumulate solid residues less rapidly when operated at lowertemperatures. Although prior art processes may use a reboiler incombination with the beer column where plant steam exchanges heat withpart of the beer in a beer column, such a reboiler must be shut down andtaken off-line for periodic cleaning. If low temperature steam producedby the third-effect evaporators is used to heat the beer column, noreboiler is needed and that column should not need cleaning over verylong periods of time that may even extend through the life of a plant.This can significantly reduce the amount of time that an ethanoldistillation facility must be shut down.

The series arrangement of the evaporator units of each set of evaporatorunits is particularly advantageous because the units can beinterconnected and valved so that one of the effect units in the seriescan be taken off-line and bypassed while the other units in the seriescontinue to operate. With this arrangement, if evaporator units aresized so that for example, one zero-evaporator, a set of first-effectevaporators, a set of second-effect evaporators, and a set ofthird-effect evaporators are present, when different effect evaporatorscan serve the facility as it runs at full capacity, then one of thoseother effect evaporators can be shut down, isolated and cleaned whilethe remaining effect evaporators and the rest of the facility continueto operate at full capacity. It is an important competitive advantagefor an ethanol distillation facility to be capable of operatingcontinuously in a steady state condition, even when an evaporator-acomponent that are most often in need of periodic cleaning-is isolatedand cleaned. Down time represents idle capital and loss of ethanolproduction. Still further, significant process problems often ariseduring startup operations and such problems can be best avoided by notshutting a facility down in the first place. Where a prior art facilitymay need to be completely shut down for a day of two days every month, afacility that employs the process arrangement of the present subjectmatter may run continuously for many months.

The energy, water and down time savings resulting from the abovedescribed process arrangement provide significant economic advantages toa facility operator. By improving the economics of fuel grade ethanoldistillation, the process of the present subject matter yieldssignificant value in a growing industry.

Embodiments of the distillation vacuum technology are shown forillustration purposes in the dry grind process. The distillation vacuumtechnology may be applied in steep or wet milling processes. Thedistillation vacuum technology may be implemented in the differentfields as discussed above.

While aspects of described techniques can be implemented in any numberof different environments, and/or configurations, implementations aredescribed in the context of the following example processes.

ILLUSTRATIVE ENVIRONMENTS

FIG. 1 is a process flow diagram showing example environment that may beused with the distillation vacuum technology. The process may beperformed using a combination of different environments and/or types ofequipment. Any number of the described environments, processes or typesof equipment may be combined in any order to implement the method, or analternate method. Moreover, it is also possible for one or more of theprovided steps or pieces of equipment to be omitted.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a process 100 implementing a series ofoperations in the dry grind mill of an alcohol production facility. Theprocess 100 in the dry grind mill may operate in a continuous manner. Inother implementations, the process 100 may operate in a batch process ora combination of batch and continuous processes.

The process 100 may receive feedstock of a grain that includes, but isnot limited to, barley, beets, cassava, corn, cellulosic feedstock,grain, milo, oats, potatoes, rice, rye, sorghum grain, triticale, sweetpotatoes, lignocellulosic biomass, wheat, and the like, or pulp.Lignocellulosic biomass may include corn fiber, corn stover, corn cobs,cereal straws, sugarcane bagasse and dedicated energy crops, which aremostly composed of fast growing tall, woody grasses, including, but notlimited to, switch grass, energy/forage sorghum, miscanthus, and thelike. Also, the feedstock may further include, grain fractions orby-products as produced by industry, such as hominy, wheat middlings,corn gluten feed, Distillers Dried Grains with Solubles, and the like.The feedstock may include, an individual type, a combined feedstock oftwo types, of multiple types, or any combination or blend of the abovegrains. The feedstock may include, but is not limited to, one to fourdifferent types combined in various percentage ranges. The feedstock maybe converted into different products and co-products that may include,but is not limited to, ethanol, syrup, distillers oil, distillers driedgrains, distillers dried grains with solubles, condensed distillerssolubles, wet distillers grains, and the like. For instance, a bushel ofcorn may produce about 17-19 pounds of ethanol, about 17-18 pounds ofDDGS and 17-18 pounds of carbon dioxide. The carbon dioxide can becaptured and compressed into liquid carbon dioxide or dry ice forcommercial applications.

For brevity purposes, the process 100 of using a single stream offeedstock will be described with reference to FIG. 1 . As an example,corn may be used as a single feedstock in the dry grind process. Cornmay be broken down into its major components of endosperm, germ, bran,and tip cap. Each of these major components may be further broken downto their smaller components. The endosperm, the germ, the bran, and thetip cap each contains varying amounts of starch, protein, oil, fiber,ash, sugars, etc. For instance, the amounts of the components in cornmay include, but are not limited to, about 70 to 74% starch, about 7 to9% protein, about 3 to 4% oil, about 7 to 9% fiber, about 1 to 2% ash,about 1 to 2% sugars, and others.

One skilled in the art understands that inspecting and cleaning of thecorn occurs initially. At feedstock 102, the process 100 initiallygrinds the feedstock 102 into a meal, a powder, or a flour to achieve anappropriate particle size. The process 100 may grind the feedstock 102by using hammer mills or roller mills. This grinding serves to break anouter coating of the corn kernel and increases a surface area to exposestarch for penetration of water in cooking. This initial grinding of thefeedstock 102 affects the particle size further down the processes. Thisis critical to have a good grind profile, not too fine particle sizes.

In an embodiment, the process 100 uses a hammer mill, such as #8 (notshown). The hammer mill is a cylindrical grinding chamber with arotating drum, flat metal bars, and a screen. The screen size may be,but is not limited to, 4/64 to 12/64 inch hole sizes. An example hammermill may have screen openings that are sized 7/64 inch, or about 2.78millimeters (mm) to create fine particles that are sized about 0.5 toabout 2-3 mm.

In another embodiment, the process 100 uses a roller mill (not shown).The roller mill receives the feedstock 102, passes the feedstock 102between two or more rolls or wheels, and crushes the feedstock 102 inthe process 100. One roll may be fixed in position while the other rollmay be moved further or closer towards the stationary roll. The rollsurfaces may be grooved to help in shearing and disintegration of thecorn. The example rolls may be about 9 to about 12 inches (23 to 30.5cm) in diameter, with a ratio of length to diameter that may be about4:1. The fine particles may be sized about 0.5 to about 2-3 mm.

In another embodiment, the process 100 grinds the feedstock 102 with aroller mill (not shown) to create a meal, a powder, a flour or a groundmaterial. The roller mill receives the feedstock 102, sends thefeedstock 102 between two or more rolls or wheels, and crushes thefeedstock 102 to create ground material. One roll may be fixed inposition while the other roll may be moved further or closer towards thestationary roll. The roll surfaces may be grooved to help in flaking,shearing and disintegration of the corn. The example rolls may be about9 to about 12 inches (23 to 30.5 cm) in diameter, with a ratio of lengthto diameter that may be about 4:1. The small particles may be sizedabout 0.5 to about 2-3 mm.

The process 100 sends the ground material to slurry 104. Next, theprocess 100 adds water, backset, and enzymes to the feedstock 102 thathas been ground to create a slurry 104 in this tank. In an example, theprocess 100 adds a liquefying enzyme, such as alpha-amylase to thismixture. The alpha-amylase enzyme hydrolyzes and breaks starch polymerinto short sections, dextrins, which are a mix of oligosaccharides. Theprocess 100 maintains a temperature between about 60° C. to about 100°C. (about 140° F. to about 212° F., about 333 K to about 373 K) in theslurry 104 to cause the starch to gelatinize and a residence time ofabout 30 to about 60 minutes to convert insoluble starch in the slurryto soluble starch. The slurry may have suspended solids content of about26% to about 40%, which includes starch, fiber, protein, and oil. Othercomponents in the slurry 104 may include, grit, salts, and the like, asis commonly present on raw incoming grain from agricultural production,as well as recycled waters that contain acids, bases, salts, yeast, andenzymes. The process 100 adjusts the pH of the slurry to about 4.5 to6.0 (depending on enzyme type) in the slurry 104.

In an embodiment, the slurry may be heated to further reduce viscosityof the ground grain. The parameters include heating for longer periodsand/or at higher temperatures. In some embodiments, there may be two ormore slurry tanks used for an additional residence time and a viscosityreduction.

In an embodiment, the process 100 pumps the slurry to jet cookers (notshown) to cook the slurry. Jet cooking may occur at elevatedtemperatures and pressures. For example, jet cooking may be performed ata temperature of about 104° C. to about 150° C. (about 220° F. to about302° F.) and at an absolute pressure of about 1.0 to about 6.0 kg/cm²(about 15 to 85 lbs/in²) for about five minutes. Jet cooking is anothermethod to gelatinize the starch.

The process 100 sends the slurry to liquefaction 106, which converts theslurry to mash. The process 100 uses a temperature range of about 80° C.to about 150° C. (about 176° F. to about 302° F., about 353 K to about423 K) to hydrolyze the gelatinized starch into maltodextrins andoligosaccharides to produce a liquefied mash. Here, the process 100produces a mash stream, which has about 26% to about 40% total solidscontent. The mash may have suspended solids content that includesprotein, oil, fiber, grit, and the like. In embodiments, one or moreliquefaction tanks may be used in liquefaction 106.

The process 100 may add another enzyme, such as glucoamylase in theliquefaction 106 to break down the dextrins into simple sugars.Specifically, the glucoamylase enzyme breaks the short sections intoindividual glucose. The process 100 may add the glucoamylase enzyme atabout 60° C. (about 140° F., about 333 K) before fermentation starts,known as saccharification, or at the start of a fermentation process. Inan embodiment, the process 100 further adjusts the pH to about 5.0 orlower in the liquefaction 106. In another embodiment, saccharificationand fermentation may also occur simultaneously.

At liquefaction 106, the process 100 obtains the process stream or amixture from the slurry 104. In other embodiments, the process 100 mayobtain a process stream or mixture as slurry from a slurry tank, from ajet cooker, from a first liquefaction tank, from a second liquefactiontank, or after a pretreatment process in cellulosic production facility.

For illustrative purposes in FIG. 1 , SMT V2 FST NEXT GEN 108 ispresented at a high level in a front end of the production facility. Theprocess is fully discussed in U.S. Pat. No. 9376504 and Pat. ApplicationPublication No. 20170145377, entitled “Hybrid Separation”, which areexpressly incorporated by reference herein in their entireties. Asmentioned, SMT V2 stands for Selective Milling Technology V2 processand/or FST NEXT GEN stands for Fiber Separation Technology Next Gen. TheDetails of embodiments of the processes for SMT V2 FST NEXT GEN 108 willbe discussed later with reference to FIG. 6 . The process in SMT V2 FSTNEXT GEN 108 may be included with any process as part of the dry grindprocess or any type of process in a production facility. Specifically,SMT V2 FST NEXT GEN 108 helps to increase starch recovery from grain andto remove the fiber before sending it to fermentation 110.

At liquefaction 106, SMT V2 FST NEXT GEN 108 obtains the process streamor a mixture from the slurry 104. In other embodiments, the SMT V2 FSTNEXT GEN may obtain the process stream or mixture as slurry from aslurry tank, from a jet cooker, from a first liquefaction tank, from asecond liquefaction tank, or after a pretreatment process in cellulosicproduction facility.

At fermentation 110, the process 100 adds a microorganism to the mashfor fermentation in a tank 110. The process 100 may use a common strainof microorganism, such as Saccharomyces cerevisiae to convert the simplesugars (i.e., maltose and glucose) into alcohol with solids and liquids,CO₂, and heat. The process 100 may use a residence time in fermentation110 as long as about 50 to about 60 hours. However, variables such as amicroorganism strain being used, a rate of enzyme addition, atemperature for fermentation, a targeted alcohol concentration, and thelike, may affect fermentation time. In embodiments, one or morefermentation tanks may be used in the process 100.

The process 100 creates alcohol, solids, liquids, microorganisms, andvarious particles through fermentation 110. Once completed, the mash iscommonly referred to as beer, which may contain about 10% to about 20%alcohol, plus soluble and insoluble solids from the grain components,microorganism metabolites, and microorganism bodies. The microorganismmay be recycled in a microorganism recycling step, which is an option.The part of the process 100 that occurs prior to distillation vacuumtechnology 112 may be referred to as the “front end”, and the part ofthe process 100 that occurs after distillation vacuum technology 112 maybe referred to as the “back end”.

Turning to distillation vacuum technology 112, the process 100 distillsthe beer to separate the alcohol from the non-fermentable components,solids and the liquids by using a distillation process, which mayinclude one or more distillation columns, work with beer columns, sidestripper, and the like. The process 100 pumps the beer throughdistillation vacuum technology 112, which is boiled to vaporize thealcohol or produce concentrated stillage. The process 100 condenses thealcohol vapor in distillation vacuum technology 112 where liquid alcoholexits through a top portion of the distillation vacuum technology 112 atabout 90% to about 95% purity ethanol, 5% water which is about 190proof. In embodiments, the distillation columns and/or beer columns maybe in series or in parallel.

For illustrative purposes in FIG. 1 , Distillation Vacuum Technology 112is presented at a high level in a front end of the production facility.The Details of embodiments of the processes for Distillation VacuumTechnology 112 will be discussed later with reference to FIGS. 2-6 . Theprocess in SMT V2 FST NEXT GEN 108 may be included with any process aspart of the dry grind process or any type of process in a productionfacility. Specifically, SMT V2 FST NEXT GEN 108 helps to increase starchrecovery from grain and to remove the fiber before sending it tofermentation 110.

At dehydration 114, the process 100 removes any moisture from the 190proof alcohol by going through dehydration. The dehydration 114 mayinclude one or more drying column(s) packed with molecular sieve mediato yield a product of nearly 100% alcohol, which is 200 proof alcohol.

At holding tank 116, the process 100 adds a denaturant to the alcohol.Thus, the alcohol is not meant for drinking, but to be used for motorfuel purposes. At 118, an example product that may be produced isethanol, to be used as fuel or fuel additive for motor fuel purposes.

At 120, the water-rich product remaining from the distillation vacuumtechnology 112 is whole stillage 120, which may include but is notlimited to, starches, soluble organic and inorganic compounds, suspendedsolids containing protein, carbohydrate, dissolved solids, water, oil,fat, protein, minerals, acids, bases, recycled yeast, non-fermentedcarbohydrates, by-products, small amount of fiber, and the like. Thewhole stillage process stream 120 falls to the bottom of thedistillation vacuum technology 112 and passes through mechanicalseparation device.

For illustrative purposes in FIG. 1 , Fractionated Stillage 124 ispresented at a high level in a back end of the production facility. Theprocess in Fractionated Stillage 124 may be included with any process aspart of the dry grind process or any type of process, steep process, orwet milling in a production facility. Specifically, FractionatedStillage 124 helps to create a high protein animal feed product that maybe sold to producers. The processes are fully discussed in PCT PatentApplication Numbers PCT/US2018/038352, PCT/US2018/038353,PCT/US2018/038356, entitled “Fractionated Stillage Separation and FeedProducts”, which are expressly incorporated by reference herein in theirentireties. FIG. 7 shows the Fractionated Stillage 124 that is used withdistillation vacuum technology.

The liquid stream 122B from mechanical device may need furtherprocessing due to its total solids composition. The liquid stream 122Bcould contain high amounts of suspended solids. Thus, the liquid stream122B may contain high amounts of suspended solids that may causeefficiency problems in the evaporators. Furthermore, this processingstep of evaporating to concentrate solids in high water content streamsrequires a significant amount of energy. Thus, the amount of energyrequired increases the operating costs. The evaporator capacity may be abottleneck in the plant. The process 100 sends this liquid stream 122Bto Fractionated Stillage 124 for further processing.

For illustrative purposes in FIG. 1 , Fractionated Stillage 124 ispresented at a high level in the back end of the production facility.Specifically, Fractionated Stillage 124 helps to improve the separationof solids from liquids in an efficient manner, improve evaporatoroperation, increase throughput, provide feed streams for furtherprocessing to produce valuable animal feed products and/or oil, and toreduce GHG or carbon emissions. Other embodiments may includeFractionated Stillage 124 process being located after whole stillage orafter any of the evaporators (i.e.., after one, two, three, last, andthe like).

The process 100 sends a liquid stream 122B from Fractionated Stillage124 to the distillation vacuum technology 112, which represent effectevaporators 128(A)(B)(C) to boil away liquids from this stream 122B.Each numeral (A)(B)(C) represent a set of evaporators, known as 1^(st)effect evaporators (i.e., (A)), 2^(nd) effect evaporators (i.e,. (B))and 3^(rd) effect evaporators (i.e., (C)). This creates a thick syrup,condensed distillers solubles, CDS 130 (i.e., about 25% to about 50% drysolids), which contains soluble or dissolved solids, suspended solids(generally less than 50 µm) and buoyant suspended solids fromfermentation.

The distillation vacuum technology 112 includes three-effect evaporators128(A),(B),(C) to represent multiple effect evaporators, such as anynumber of evaporators, from two to about twelve evaporators. The Detailsof embodiments of the processes for Distillation Vacuum Technology 112will be discussed later with reference to FIGS. 2-6 .

Some process streams may go through multiple effect evaporator(s), whichincludes one to four evaporators and operates at higher temperatures,such as ranging to about 210° F. (about 99° C. or about 372 K). Forillustration purposes, only three effects are shown, but the process mayhave up to six effect evaporators. The process stream may go throughanother two set of effect evaporator(s) such as 128(B)(C), which couldoperate at slightly lower temperatures than the first effectevaporator(s) 128(A), such as ranging from about 130° F. to about 188°F. (about 54° C. to about 87° C. or about 328 K to about 360 K). Thesecond effect evaporator(s) 128(B) may use heated vapor from the firsteffect evaporator(s) 128(A) as heat or use recycled steam. The thirdeffect evaporator(s) 128(C) may use heated vapor from the second effectevaporator(s) 128(B) as heat or use recycled steam. In otherembodiments, there may be three to six effect evaporator(s), which relyon one another. In embodiments, the multiple effect evaporators mayrange from one effect up to ten effects or more. This depends on theplants, the streams being heated, the materials, and the like. Inembodiments, the evaporators may be in series or in parallel.

The process 100 sends the CDS 130 (AAFCO 2017 Official Publication at27.7) from the evaporators 128(A),(B),(C) to become combined with fiber109 (AAFCO 2017 Official Publication at 48.2) from SMT FST NEXT GEN 108to produce Fiber&CDS 132.

In another embodiment, the process 100 sends the syrup, which isconcentrated having about 20% to about 45% by weight of total solids, tobe sold as CDS 130 (AAFCO 2017 Official Publication at 27.7). This maybe sold at a very low price. The CDS 130 may contain fermentationby-products, moderate amounts of fat, spent yeast cells, phosphorus,potassium, sulfur and other nutrients. The moisture content for the CDS130 may range from about 55% to about 80%.

In another embodiment, the process 100 may send a stream from theevaporators 128(A),(B)(C) to a process for oil recovery 134, whichremoves oil from Fractionated Stillage 124 to recover oil. As a result,the process 100 produces a product of oil 136 of back-end oil andsolids. The process 100 may send solids, water, and the like from theoil recovery 134 back to the evaporators 128(A),(B),(C) for furtherprocessing.

Returning to Mechanical Device 122, the process sends a cake stream 122Ato the dryers 138A,B. The dryers 138A,B is a standard plant dryer forremoving moisture from the feed products. The process 100 may receive ayeast enriched stream 126 from Fractionated Stillage 124 to create anenrich yeast dried animal feed product with high protein. The process100 also blends fiber and syrup from SMT V2 FST NEXT GEN 108 and Hi-Pro142 back together to achieve 26% protein for DDG 140. The process 100furthermore creates DDGS 142 with individual ingredients of fiber 109from SMT V2 FST NEXT GEN 108, CDS 130 from the evaporators128(A),(B),(C) and product from Fractionated Stillage 124.

At 120, the water-rich product remaining from the distillation 112 iscommonly referred to as whole stillage. The components in the wholestillage 120 may include components such as, suspended solids, dissolvedsolids, and water. For instance, the components include oil, protein,fiber, minerals, acids, bases, recycled yeast, and the like. Wholestillage 120 falls from the bottom of the distillation 112 and passesthrough a mechanical device 122.

The mechanical device 122 separates the whole stillage 120 to producewet cake (i.e., insoluble solids) and centrate (i.e., liquids). Themechanical device 122 may include, but is not limited to, a centrifuge,a decanter, or any other type of separation device. The mechanicaldevice 122 may increase solids content from about 10 to about 15% toabout 25 to about 40% solids. There may be one or more mechanicaldevices.

The wet cake are primarily solids, which may be referred to asDistillers Wet Grains (DWG). This includes, but is not limited to,protein, fiber, fat, and liquids. WDG may be stored less than a week tobe used as feed for cattle, pigs, or chicken. Some of the wet cake istransferred to one or more dryer(s) 138A,B to remove liquids. Thisdrying produces Distillers Dried Grains (DDG) 140, which has a solidscontent of about 88 to 90% and may be stored indefinitely to be used asfeed.

Returning to 122, the process 100 produces the centrate. The compositionof the centrate is mostly liquids left over from whole stillage 120after being processed in the mechanical device 122. The process 100sends the centrate, also referred to as thin stillage, to evaporators128(A),(B),(C) to boil away liquids from the thin stillage. This createsa concentrated syrup (i.e., about 25 to about 50% dry solids) whichcontains soluble or dissolved solids, fine suspended solids (generallyless than 50 µm) and buoyant suspended solids from fermentation.

The evaporators 128(A),(B),(C) may represent multiple effectevaporators, such as any number of evaporators, from one to about twelveevaporators. Some process streams may go through many effects ofevaporators and operate at higher temperatures, such as ranging to about210° F. (about 99° C. or about 372 K). While other process streams maygo through a second effect evaporator(s), operated at slightly lowertemperatures than the first effect evaporator(s), such as ranging fromabout 130° F. to about 188° F. (about 54° C. to about 87° C. or about328 K to about 360 K). The second effect evaporator(s) may use heatedvapor from the first effect evaporator(s) as heat or use recycled steam.In other embodiments, there may be four to six effect evaporator(s),which operate at lower temperatures than the second-effectevaporator(s). In other embodiments, the four to six effect evaporatorsmay include molecular sieves. In embodiments, the multiple effectevaporators may range from one effect up to ten effects or more. Thisdepends on the plants, the streams being heated, the materials, and thelike. In embodiments, the evaporators may be in series or in parallel.

The process 100 sends syrup from the evaporators 128(A),(B),(C) to thedryers to produce Dried Distillers Grain with Solubles (DDGS). In someinstances, the syrup may be combined with wet cake processed by themechanical device 122 and sold as DDGS.

In another embodiment, the process 100 may send the thin stillage to aprocess for oil recovery 134, which removes oil from the thin stillageto recover oil. As a result, the process 100 produces a product ofback-end oil 136 and solids. The process 100 may send solids, water, andthe like from the oil recovery 134 back to the evaporators 128 forfurther processing.

FIG. 2 illustrates an embodiment of the distillation vacuum technology112 used in the dry grind process. FIG. 2 illustrates the distillationportion 200 of the distillation vacuum technology 112, which includesSide Stripper 202, Rectifier Column 204 (also referred to as rectifier),and Beer Column 206. The ethanol recovery process starts withapproximately 16.5% v/v beer 208 in the beer column 206, and finisheswith approximately 99.0% v/v ethanol in an ethanol storage tank. Theapproximately 16.5% ethanol beer also contains non-fermentable solids.About 35% of the solids are soluble, and the remainder are insoluble.Solubles are left-over sugars and starch, all minerals and salts, someproteins, and some yeast. Insolubles are fiber and yeast cell-mass.

In FIG. 2 , the beer column 206 receives the beer 208 which includes themilled grain. The beer column 206 and the rectifier column 204 areconnected by a line shown as 210 for conveying 120 proof ethanol vaporfrom the beer column 206 to the rectifier column 204 and a beer bottomoutlet for discharging beer bottoms. The ethanol vapor 210 from the beercolumn 206 supplies heat to the rectifier column 204. The distilling theethanol-laden beer in the beer column 206 is maintained at a pressurebelow atmospheric pressure, that is under vacuum.

As shown, the rectifier column 204 produces 190 proof ethanol vapor, 190proof ethanol 212, and liquid rectifier bottoms 214. The rectifiercolumn 204 and the side stripper 202 are connected by the line 214 forconveying rectifier bottoms to the side stripper 202.

The side stripper 202 receives stream from evaporators 128(A),evaporators #1 and #2. The side stripper 202 and the rectifier column204 are connected by a line 210 for conveying ethanol vapor having anethanol concentration below 190 proof from the side stripper 202 to therectifier column 204.

Ethanol is more volatile than water; the low proof ethanol goes to thebeer column 206 overhead and then to the rectifier column 204 and maystart accumulating in a tank. The percent ethanol in the refluxcontinues to increase to 185-190 proof. Vapor to the Side Stripper 202is increased as the proof of ethanol in the reflux increases.

FIG. 3 illustrates a larger view of the distillation and evaporationprocess 300. This figure describes the process for recovering ethanolfuel from the fermented beer. The distillation vacuum technology 112sends boiler steam 302, steam 304 from evap zero 306, and stillagefiltrate 308 to the 1^(st) Effect Evaps 128(A) (i.e., evaporators),which may need to be increased to adequately heat the Side Stripper 202.The 1^(st) Effect Evaps 128(A) sends evap vapor and stillage to the2^(nd) Effect Evaps 128(B), which sends the evap vapor and stillage to3^(rd) Effect Evaps 128(C). Each effect evaporator feeds vapor and feedstream to the next effect in series. The 1^(st) Effect Evaps 128(A)drains steam condensate to evap zero 306.

The 2^(nd) Effect Evaps 128(B) also sends the evap vapor to heat theSide Stripper 202. The 2^(nd) Effect Evaps 128(B) drains evap condensateto an evap condensate tank 308. The evap condensate tank 308 sends flashas part of ethanol vapor to the beer column 206.

The 2^(nd) Effect Evaps 128(B) must be operating to drive the SideStripper 202. The evaporators 128(A),(B),(C) should reach boilingtemperatures prior to steam vapors 302 going to the distillation area.Evaporator boiling temperatures start to drop with more vacuum indistillation.

The 3^(rd) Effect Evaps 128(C) Evap zero 306 drains to another evapcondensate tank 310. The another evap condensate tank 310 sends flash aspart of ethanol vapor to the beer column 206.

FIG. 3 illustrate molecular sieve bottles. Turning to the lower lefthalf of the figure, the steam goes to the sieve vaporizer 312, whichsends steam condensate to evap zero 306. The sieve vaporizer 312 sends190 proof vapor to the mol sieve 314, which becomes 200 proof vapor toevap zero 306. The sieve vaporizer 312 increases steam flow inproportion to the ethanol water flow rate. Next, evap zero 306 willdischarge steam condensate 316 and 200 proof liquid 318. The mol sieve314 will return the rectifier column 202 draw back to reprocess forwater removal, provide additional heat to 1^(st), 2^(nd), and 3^(rd)Effect Evaps 128(A)(B)(C) and to the beer column 206; and allow foradditional beer feed or allow for a decrease to 1^(st) Effect Evapssteam, depending on beer column beer/steam ratio.

FIG. 4 illustrates an embodiment of distillation vacuum technology 112used in the dry grind process. This shows a configuration of evap zero306 receiving 200 proof vapor from the molecular sieves, the steamsupply from 1^(st) Effect Evaps 128(A) and the steam condensate fromsieve vaporizer 312. As shown, 1^(st) Effect Evaps 128(A) feeds to2^(nd) Effect Evaps 128(B), which feeds to 3^(rd) Effect Evaps 128(C).Located on the right are the side stripper 202, the beer column 206 andthe rectifier column 204, which interacts with the evaporators128(A)(B)(C).

FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment of distillation vacuum technology usedin the dry grind process.

FIG. 6 illustrates the regen process in distillation vacuum technology112. Inconsistent percent alcohol readings for the regen fluid canindicate poor regeneration of the sieve system. FIG. 6 shows molecularsieves going into the Regen Tank and the process stream leaving to gothe rectifier column.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example of the Fractionated Stillage that is usedwith distillation vacuum technology. This is shown as 124 in FIG. 1 .

Although the subject matter has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the subject matter defined in the appended claims is notnecessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather,the specific features and acts are disclosed as example forms ofimplementing the claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A process comprising: evaporating a first steamcondensate in a zero number evaporator to produce a first steam;evaporating water from a stillage in two or more evaporator effects toproduce a concentrated stillage syrup and a final evaporate vapor,wherein the first steam from the zero number evaporator provides heatenergy to evaporate water from the stillage in the two or moreevaporator effects; and drying the concentrated stillage syrup in adryer to remove moisture.
 2. The process of claim 1, wherein theevaporating water from the stillage in the two or more evaporatoreffects reduces energy by reducing water to be dried from theconcentrated stillage syrup.
 3. The process of claim 1, furthercomprising supplying the final evaporate vapor to a first distillationcolumn and separating ethanol from an ethanol-laden beer in the firstdistillation column, wherein the final evaporate vapor provides heatenergy for separation of the ethanol from the ethanol-laden beer in thefirst distillation column.
 4. The process of claim 3, further comprisingmaintaining a pressure in the first distillation column at belowatmospheric pressure during separation of the ethanol from theethanol-laden beer.
 5. The process of claim 3, further comprisingdistilling the ethanol separated in the first distillation column in asecond distillation column, wherein energy passes in the form of vapor,in order, from the zero number evaporator to the two or more evaporatoreffects, to the first distillation column, and to the seconddistillation column.
 6. The process of claim 1, wherein the concentratedstillage syrup produced by the two or more evaporator effects is up to70% solids.
 7. The process of claim 1, wherein the concentrated stillagesyrup produced by the two or more evaporator effects is from about 65%to 75% solids.
 8. The process of claim 1, wherein the two or moreevaporator effects comprise a first-effect evaporator and asecond-effect evaporator, wherein the evaporating of water from thestillage comprises: evaporating water from the stillage in thefirst-effect evaporator to produce a first concentrated stillage and afirst evaporate vapor, wherein the first steam from the zero numberevaporator provides heat energy to evaporate water from the stillage inthe first-effect evaporator; and evaporating water from the firstconcentrated stillage in the second-effect evaporator to produce asecond concentrated stillage and a second evaporate vapor, wherein thefirst evaporate vapor from the first-effect evaporator provides heatenergy to evaporate water from the first concentrated stillage in thesecond-effect evaporator.
 9. The process of claim 8, wherein theconcentrated stillage syrup comprises the second concentrated stillageand the final evaporate vapor comprises the second evaporate vapor. 10.The process of claim 8, wherein the evaporating of water from thestillage further comprises evaporating water from the secondconcentrated stillage in a third-effect evaporator to produce theconcentrated stillage syrup and the final evaporate vapor, wherein thesecond evaporate vapor from the second-effect evaporator provides heatenergy to evaporate water from the second concentrated stillage in thethird-effect evaporator.
 11. The process of claim 1, wherein each of thetwo or more evaporator effects comprises a set of two evaporators ineach effect.
 12. The process of claim 1, further comprising mixing theconcentrated stillage syrup with grain solids to provide a grain andsyrup mixture, wherein the drying of the concentrated stillage syrupcomprises drying the grain and syrup mixture to provide a dried grainfeed product.
 13. The process of claim 1, wherein heat energy toevaporate the first steam condensate in the zero number evaporator toproduce the first steam is provided by ethanol vapor from a dehydrationmolecular sieve.
 14. A process comprising: distilling an ethanol-ladenbeer in a beer column maintained at a pressure below atmosphericpressure to produce: a beer-column vapor primarily including ethanol,and byproducts including a stillage including primarily water;condensing the beer-column vapor into a liquid primarily includingethanol in a condenser; evaporating a first steam condensate in a zeronumber evaporator to produce a first steam; evaporating water from thestillage in two or more evaporator effects with heat from the firststeam to produce a concentrated stillage syrup and a final evaporatevapor, wherein the final evaporate vapor provides heat energy for thedistilling of the ethanol-laden beer in the beer column; and drying theconcentrated stillage syrup to remove additional moisture.
 15. Theprocess of claim 14, wherein the two or more evaporator effects comprisea first-effect evaporator and a second-effect evaporator, wherein theevaporating of water from the stillage in the two or more evaporatoreffects comprises: evaporating water from the stillage in thefirst-effect evaporator with heat from the first steam to produce afirst concentrated stillage and a first-effect vapor; and evaporatingwater from the first concentrated stillage in the second-effectevaporator with heat from the first-effect vapor to produce a secondconcentrated stillage and a second-effect vapor.
 16. The process ofclaim 15, wherein the two or more evaporator effects further comprise athird-effect evaporator and the evaporating of water from the stillagein the two or more evaporator effects further comprises evaporatingwater from the second concentrated stillage with heat from thesecond-effect vapor to produce the concentrated stillage syrup and thefinal evaporate vapor.
 17. A process comprising: sending a boiler steamand an ethanol liquid to a molecular sieve vaporizer, wherein themolecular sieve vaporizer produces an ethanol vapor and a first steamcondensate; evaporating the first steam condensate in a zero numberevaporator to produce a first steam; evaporating water from a stillagein two or more evaporator effects with heat from the first steam toproduce a concentrated stillage syrup and a final evaporate vapor; anddrying the concentrated stillage syrup to remove moisture.
 18. Theprocess of claim 17, further comprising distilling an ethanol-laden beerin one or more distillation columns to produce an ethanol overheadvapor, wherein the final evaporate vapor provides heat energy forseparation of ethanol from the ethanol-laden beer in the one or moredistillation columns.
 19. The process of claim 18, wherein the one ormore distillation columns comprise a beer column, a side stripper, and arectifier column to distill the ethanol-laden beer to at least about 95%pure ethanol.
 20. The process of claim 17, wherein the evaporating ofwater from the stillage in the two more evaporator effects comprises:evaporating water from the stillage in a first-effect evaporator withheat from the first steam to produce a first concentrated stillage and afirst evaporate vapor; evaporating water from the first concentratedstillage in a second-effect evaporator with heat from the firstevaporate vapor to produce a second concentrated stillage and a secondevaporate vapor; and evaporating water from the second concentratedstillage in a third-effect evaporator with heat from the secondevaporate vapor to produce the concentrated stillage syrup and the finalevaporate vapor.